2009 Gives Us One Last Memory

About two weeks ago Mike had an episode where he had a piece of meat stuck in his esophagus for over three hours. He was able to breathe and talk comfortably, so there was no danger--just a lot of discomfort. We spent a long night in the ER waiting to have the obstruction removed, but in the end, the doctors did another excellent job in making sure he got the safest treatment possible, given his recent history.

All of that led to a call yesterday to have his esophagus dilated in a simple and safe procedure that lasted about 30 minutes. The early signs are that the procedure was a success, but it's likely that Mike will need this procedure every six months or so for the foreseeable future. The problem is caused by damage done to tissue in the esophagus from the radiation treatments. For some patients the tissue heals itself completely, but for others the damage is more or less permanent and the dilation procedure is done on an as-needed basis forever. Mike felt this episdoe coming on for a month or so, but didn't know exactly what it was or how to deal with it. The new rule is that if he can't swallow cheese grits, call the doctor and get this thing done again.

Regardless of all that, we accomplished our primary objective for today by Mike not being admitted into the hospital so we could keep our New Year's Eve plans intact: a quiet dinner at home, a fire in the fireplace, wine glasses in hand, and saying "buh-bye, now" to 2009 and "Hello, good lookin'" to 2010!

Mike has his first post-remission scan scheduled for January 18th, so look for an update after 1/20 when we get the results.

In the meantime we hope that your own primary objectives for tonight and 2010 are realized.

Mike and Terry